1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for recycling glass containers and more specifically, to an apparatus which accepts, separates and either deposits a glass container in a bin or crushes the glass container into pieces which are in turn deposited in a bin. The apparatus also includes means for compensating a customer for the deposit of glass containers into the apparatus.
2. Background Information
The handling of returned containers, such as glass containers, for purposes of recycling or the like, has become a major concern. Glass containers can be recycled either by returning empty containers for refilling or by crushing empty containers to produce glass cullet. Recycling of glass containers not only reduces the raw material costs for making new glass bottles, but also reduces the amount of garbage which is deposited into garbage dumps and as litter. Because of these benefits, many states have mandated recycling or that a deposit be placed on glass beverage containers, thus giving consumers the incentive to return their empty glass beverage containers to retail establishments in order to receive a refund.
However, collecting the returned glass beverage containers can be burdensome for retail outlets such as grocery stores or recycling centers. Many grocery stores must devote an inordinately disproportionate amount of their available floor space and personnel to the collection, storage and sorting of returned containers. For consumers, it is often too inconvenient for them to recycle glass containers thus leading them to merely discard glass bottles instead of recycling. These situations combine to discourage the economically and socially beneficial process of recycling.
It is known to provide automated recycling machines which accept containers and which refund money or a coupon to consumers for their returned containers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,426 discloses a container redemption apparatus having a carousel upon which a container may be placed. The carousel rotates to expose the uniform product code (hereinafter "UPC") on the container to a scanner which reads the UPC. If the container is acceptable, an accept arm sweeps the container from its position in the carousel through a quadrant opening in the base plate of the carousel for subsequent shredding in a shredder. Unacceptable containers keep rotating and are swept off the carousel by a reject arm. A return control accounting system which keeps track of the number of containers deposited is also disclosed.
In recycling glass containers, it is especially desirable to separate the colored glass containers from the non-colored glass containers prior to crushing. It is further desirable to separate the colored glass into brown and green glass. For machines which do not separate on the basis of the color of the glass, the crushed glass must either be used as an aggregate in road construction materials ("glassphalt") or discarded as scrap. At current market prices, one ton of pure clear glass is worth $35/ton whereas one ton of pure brown glass is $21/ton and one ton of pure green glass is $18/ton. Compare this to the fact that a mixture of any two or three of the above types of glass must be scrapped and taken to a landfill dump, and the economic incentive to separate glass containers by color is obvious.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,641 discloses a glass bottle collection and crushing apparatus consisting of an optical UPC scanner that accepts or rejects bottles for the machine, means for separating the acceptable bottles into clear glass bottles and colored glass bottles, means for crushing the clear and colored glass, and storage means for storing the glass cullet received from the respective crushing means. The crushing means include a drive mechanism which rotates a cross bar and extending bar of the crushing wheel. A coin dispensing device is also provided. This machine, however, does not provide for further separation of the colored glass into pure brown and pure green glass.
A major component of a glass recycling apparatus that crushes glass into glass cullet is the crusher apparatus. The crusher must be compact and operate quietly yet must also effectively crush the glass. Complicating the crushing of the glass container is that most glass containers have paper labels which tend to jam the crusher and prevent complete crushing of the glass containers. In addition, as was explained hereinbefore, it is desirable to separate and crush clear, green and brown glass containers. This requires three separate crushers. Because of space, weight and power considerations, it is desirable to have a compact and efficient crushing unit mounted inside the recycling apparatus.
Finally, there are many glass containers which are "returnable". Returnable glass containers are those that are returned by the customer after use and which are washed and refilled. Heightened environmental awareness will only lead to more use of these so-called "returnable" containers. At present, there is no recycling apparatus that will accept and process returnable glass containers.
Therefore, despite the above machines and apparatus, there remains a need for an apparatus for recycling glass containers that is easy to use by consumers and which provides enough economic incentive for the retailer to buy and maintain. There also remains a need for compact and efficient glass crushers that can be used with these recycling apparatuses. Finally, there remains a need for a recycling apparatus that will accept and process returnable glass containers.